Rules of a 48 Hour Film

There are dozens of timed filmmaking competitions. It seems every film festival and filmmaking organization runs one.

What makes the 48 Hour Film Project different is our strict adherence to the rules we put forth.

Every film must be 4-7 minutes long with an addition 1 minute allowed for credits. The story MUST be complete within those 4-7 minutes. The additional 1 minute of credit rolls cannot be used to wrap up the story.

In order to be eligible for “Best of City” judging, every film must be turned in by 7:30pm on the Sunday following the kickoff. I have close friends in the competition who wouldn’t speak to me for months after the screenings because they were 5 minutes or even 15 seconds late. All completed films will be screened and are eligible for audience favorite awards, but they are not eligible for “Best of Seattle” no matter how good they might be.

In addition to meeting the length and turn in time criteria, each film must use each of the four criteria:

1) A character.
These are usually fairly mundane to downright ridiculous and don’t need to be the main character of the story. The character must also appear on screen in some fashion.

2) A line of dialogue.
Something akin to “Not on my watch!” or something similar. The phrase must be used exactly. It can appear as subtitles if necessary.

3) A Prop.
It could be a bike, a monkey or a door mat. It need not be used as a main story element, but it does need to appear on screen.

4) Genre.
We have a list of approved genres that the teams will draw from a hat. Genres like mystery, horror or the dreaded musical/western! There is also a wild card genre that teams may opt for if they don’t like their draw and it is oftentimes more difficult than the original draw. Contestants need not write a strict version of their genre, but the core of the genre needs to be present. If you draw Western, all the rules of the western genre should be present, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be set in the old west. Genres can also be mixed. Horror comedy. Musical suspense thriller. As long as the core requirements of the drawn genre are met, all is good.

The toughest part of my job as the event producer is disqualifying films from best in city judging, especially when they’re really really good. Whether they’re late or miss an element, if it’s a really good film, it’s heartbreaking to make the call informing the director that it is ineligible.

That is why we screen every film that is submitted, meeting all criteria, late or other. As much as people want to win this event, one of the driving factors in competing in the event is seeing your film on a huge screen in front of an audience of appreciative people.